Journal: bioRxiv
Article Title: Glucagon and GLP-1 Accelerate Pseudo-Islet Assembly and Unmask Sex-Specific Islet Fragmentation Dynamics
doi: 10.1101/2025.08.10.669547
Figure Lengend Snippet: a) Workflow: Human donor islets derived from both male and female donors were dissociated into single cells, stained with HIC1-2B4 AF488 (pan-endocrine marker), HIC1-8G12 PE (non-β-endocrine cell marker), and CD9 APC (predominantly δ-cell marker), and sorted into distinct α-, β-, and δ-cell populations via FACS. These populations were then used to form pseudo-islets either from single populations (b) and d) for α-cells ONLY and c) and e) for β-cells ONLY) or combinations thereof (f and g). Pseudo-islets were formed in ultra-low attachment 6-well plates and combined in a 1:10 ratio of endocrine to Mile Sven 1 (MS1) cells (mouse pancreatic endothelial cells). Hormone supplementation consisted of 0.1 µg/mL GCG (pink), 0.1 µg/mL GLP-1 (teal), and 100 nM somatostatin (SST, orange), compared to the control (CTRL, black), with supplements administered every other day. Growth and formation of pseudo-islets depicted in all subpanels are from 2-3 days post-seeding via EPI-light microscopy. Donors were pooled by sex; panels b), c), and f) correspond to female donors and panels d), e), and g) to male donors. Statistical analysis was done by two-way ANOVA with a Benjamini-Hochberg correction for multiple comparisons. P-values are indicated for each comparison; p < 0.05 was considered the cutoff for statistical significance.
Article Snippet: The antibodies used were: HIC1-2B4 A488 conjugated (Novus Biologicals, REF# NBP1-18946AF488) at a 1:100 dilution, HIC1-8G12 PE conjugated (provided by the Grompe lab) at 1:50 dilution, and anti-CD9 APC conjugated to APC (Thermo Fisher Invitrogen, MA1-10307) at a 1:20 dilution.
Techniques: Derivative Assay, Staining, Marker, Control, Light Microscopy, Comparison